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Obama: 'Susan Rice is extraordinary'

David Jackson and Aamer Madhani
3:48 p.m. EST November 28, 2012

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, for a meeting with UN Ambassador Susan Rice. Rice continued her fight Wednesday to win over skeptics in the Senate who could block her chances at becoming the next U.S. secretary of state, while Republican lawmakers said they were even more troubled after face-to-face meetings with her over the handling of the Sept. 11 deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) ORG XMIT: DCEV103(Photo: Evan Vucci AP)

WASHINGTON — President Obama defended potential Secretary of State nominee Susan Rice on Wednesday as she continued to face criticism from some Senate Republicans.

"Susan Rice is extraordinary," Obama told reporters at the end of a brief photo opportunity before a Cabinet meeting. The president added he "couldn't be prouder of the job" Rice has done as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Obama Cabinet members applauded the tribute to Rice.

The president's comments came hours after a moderate Republican from Maine said that she continues to have lingering questions about comments Rice made following the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.

Sen. Susan Collins said she needs more information before she can support Rice if President Obama taps her to be his next secretary of state; Current Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to retire soon.

Collins' comments came following a 95-minute meeting with Rice on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning as Rice, who is believed to be Obama's top contender for the job, faces mounting Republican opposition.

"I continue to be troubled by the fact that the U.N. ambassador played what is essentially a political role," said Collins, referring to Rice's round of interviews on the Sunday talk shows days after the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Rice stated incorrectly in those interviews that the attack may have emerged from a protest outside the consulate in response to an anti-Islam video.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., suggested on Tuesday that they would block Rice if Obama nominates her to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has expressed her desire to leave her post at State soon.

But Collins' criticism of Rice is perhaps most telling of the difficulties Obama faces if he decides to nominate his U.N. envoy to the post at State. When Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for nomination hearings for the U.N. post in January 2009, it was Collins who offered Rice's formal introduction to the committee and gave her an "enthusiastic" endorsement.

On Wednesday, Collins didn't say she would try to block a nomination as some other GOP senators have.

She added that Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would be an "excellent" choice for the position and would likely have an easy path to confirmation.

Collins added another wrinkle into the critique of Rice.

"What troubles me so much is the Benghazi attack in many ways echoes the attacks on those embassies in 1998, when Susan Rice was head of the African region for our State Department.," Collins said. "In both cases the ambassadors begged for additional security."

Collins said that Rice told her "she would have to refresh her memory" of the 1998 events but that she was not directly involved in rebuffing the request for additional embassy security in 1998.